Benlunar - Episode 21
The fight for the farm.
The Roads of Alicium run through it like veins
From small paths down mountains to city built lanes
They’ll guide you home or take you away
Or make you visit village that begs you to stay
Up through the pass, down through the grass
Stick to your map, veer not from the path
Or perhaps take an unfamiliar bend
After all, the aim of the song is the tune not the end
Lilian held her breath. She reached out her left hand to find Fritha’s head. She stroked it gently in the hopes of calming her. Lilian wasn’t too worried about Fritha making noise, if there was anyone who knew how to hide, it was her. Maybe she was stroking her to calm herself more than the other way around. The moon’s stark light still shone through the hole in the roof of the recently burnt out barn. Lilian looked to the door where another sliver of light was sneaking into the dusty darkness. Two mercenary soldiers stood there, watching through knot holes or cracks in the wood. They wore silver breastplates and helmets in the shapes of animals. The woman, whose name was Solveig, was staring, unblinking through a small hole in the door. They were waiting to ambush a group of men, rough city fools who thought that this country farm was stashed full of money. Lilian almost smiled at the irony of standing beside two of the most expensive soldiers money could buy while defending a distinct lack of treasure. Just then, Lilian tensed her arm. She’d seen Solveig grip her friend’s arm and then start tapping it lightly. Lilian strained to hear what was happening outside, she heard muffled deep voices and occasionally the sound of a footstep or a scuffed shoe. She thought she could hear some of these footsteps getting closer to the barn and with each step, Solveig’s tapping became sharper and harder. Lilian still held her new knife in her right hand, and she felt her grip loosen slightly from the sweat on her palm. In a silent rush Solveig and the other mercenary walked backwards towards a dark corner of the barn where there were still piles of hay. Solveig looked to Lilian and pushed her hand out and down mouthing the words ‘hide’ ‘hide’ as she did. Lilian looked around and saw a hay bail a few feet behind her. Would it be big enough to hide her fully? She began to panic. When she looked back to ask Solveig what she should do, she saw the two mercenaries disappear into a stack of hay almost twice their height. A bit of rustling and they were gone. The voices by the door were loud now. Lilian was out of time. Her left hand suddenly felt wet for some reason. She looked down to see Fritha licking it. She stopped when Lilian caught her eye and then raised a paw up before dropping it quickly and awkwardly to the dusty stone floor. And then Lilian understood. She instinctively dropped to the floor, curling up by the hay bale as she did. She shut her eyes and gripped her knife tightly to her chest so that it didn’t reflect any light. She heard the door open just as she felt Fritha’s weight fall on top of her. The girl and the beast kept deathly still, barely moving to breathe while the sounds of footsteps entered the barn. Lilian took the opportunity to slip into her state of focus. The room suddenly became a bright grey and black echo chamber. The stone floors were bright with crunches and rustles while the hay bales looked like dark pockets where sound went to dissipate, bar the occasional squeak of what Lilian thought must be a mouse or rat. In this state, Lilian could clearly hear the barn doors opening and two hearts walking in. With Fritha’s whole weight upon her Lilian felt comforted and relaxed enough to focus on what was going on in the room. She heard the hiss of a small fire, probably a torch. Lilian was confident enough in Fritha’s extraordinary knack for hiding that the light of a small torch did not concern her. What worried her more was the possibility of the men repeating what they had done earlier and setting the hay bails alight. This worry was dampened when one of the men spoke. Even though it was clearly a whisper, in hyper focus Lilian could hear it as clear as a bell.
“Nothing.” One voice said.
“Probably all in the house.” Replied another, lower and gruffer than the first.
“This is weird.” The first voice said. And Lilian heard a change in his heart beat. A slight quickening indicating, fear perhaps? Lilian felt Fritha’s breathing change at the same moment. Her heart, loud as a beating drum when so close to Lilian, appeared to be slowing down. Lilian ignored it for now and went back to directing her focus towards the two men. They had turned back towards the door and were walking out. A voice further outside greeted them as they appeared in the doorway. Lilian wasn’t ready to catch what it said, but she heard the replies clearly,
“Nothing.” Said the first voice again.
“They’re either in the house or they’ve scarpered.” Said the second voice. The outside voice said something in low muffled tones which elicited chuckles from the two men in the barn.
“Yeah,” the first voice agreed, “and they’ll have left it on the kitchen table.” More low laughter.
“I swear,” the second voice now, “If we’ve come out here for nothing it’s going to be Razzit who’ll be coughing up.” Lilian had to focus hard to catch this last part as the second voice was exiting the barn as it spoke. The first man was still there, lurking in the doorway of the barn but judging by the position of his heart and the shuffling of his feet, he was looking outward. Lilian kept still and focused for a few seconds. There were a few voices coming from outside. Presumably the men were assessing the situation and making some sort of plan. Lilian was also distracted by the beating of the man’s heart, with every minute that went by it seemed to be getting more erratic, jumpy and fearful. What was even stranger, was that Fritha’s heartbeat seemed to be matching it exactly. Syncing beat for beat like she was reacting directly to it somehow. Lilian could have listened for a lot longer but something snapped her out of it. A sound from the darkness around the hay bales. The slightest shuffle of a foot. A breath. A calm heart beat eeking ever closer to the fearful one by the door. Then a sound. A clasping or cupping. A struggle and a quickening heart. Someone had left the hay bales in deathly silence and had put their hand over the fearful man’s mouth. Unable to make a sound vocally, Lilian heard him thrashing in an attempt to throw his torch. The wood left his hand but never hit the ground. Caught in a quiet catch by a third heart beat that had also recently left the hay. Then, a low thunk and the thrashing stopped. All the hearts were still beating, but they were all calm now. Lilian opened her eyes and peeked through Fritha’s straw coloured fur to see Solveig and the soldier slowly lower the unconscious man into the hay stack they had just been hiding in. Lilian tapped Fritha lightly on the side and the great invisible beast stood up soundlessly, Lilian breathed a little easier and got herself up on to her feet as quietly as she could. Solveig turned and had to catch herself from gasping. She clearly hadn’t expected to see Lilian standing beside a large dog and her eyes darted from the small hay bale to the big animal and back again, a look of confusion plastered across her normally stern face. The crack of a twig from outside snapped her back to attention. She brought her two axes out of her belt and the other mercenary fetched his long pike from where he’d hidden it behind a pillar. It seemed ridiculously impractical in this moment, but Lilian watched the way the man effortlessly handled its weight, keeping quiet as he brought it up and over his head, trying several stances before he found one he was comfortable with. Solveig was already by the door, hugging the wood and keeping a watchful eye on the group outside. She gestured towards her friend, spreading out 5 fingers on her left hand, then a fist, then five fingers, then another five, then a fist, then finally three fingers. Eighteen men, thought Lilian. They were outnumbered.
Solveig appeared to be waiting for something. Lilian was just wondering if all warfare involved this much waiting, when she heard a sound coming from further away. Lilian assumed it must be coming from the farmhouse. It sounded like a dog barking. Even Fritha’s ears pricked up when she heard it. Lilian was impressed. Everyone in the farm knew that the only dog on the premises was currently in the barn. Whoever had made the sound had clearly practised it a lot. It was very convincing. A dog bark could also mean several things. It could mean someone in the house was busy trying to calm a dog, or it meant that everyone had truly left and the noise was coming from a wild animal. Clear enough to catch attention. Vague enough to not give anything away. The dog bark was met with many whispers coming from the group of men. Everyone seemed to have their own take on what was going on. Seeding fear and confusion seemed to all be part of Solveig’s plan. The warrior woman took advantage of the distraction and sprang into action. She slipped out of the door like a shadow, followed by her friend. Lilian bade Fritha to stay behind her while she carefully approached the door. She found a hole in the wood and was able to finally see what they were up against. A group of men were huddled against one of the makeshift barricades that Mr Attorcop and the farmers had helped to construct earlier that evening. Lilian almost laughed when she remembered what Solveig had said in her speech, “We let them take the paths we have set out for them.” By creating these barricades, they had given the bandits a place to hide, but knowing exactly where they were hiding, gave the farmers the advantage. Lilian strained to see Solveig and the other mercenary slip round and behind the group of bandits, ducking behind a stack of crates the farmers had placed further down the road. The men had no idea, but they were now surrounded on two fronts, 3, if Lilian counted herself and Fritha. She was trying to listen to what the men were saying, but it was difficult without being in focus, which she wanted to avoid right now because she wanted to watch rather than listen. For some time, nothing happened. It felt like ages, but was probably less than a minute. Eventually, five of the men stood up and rushed over to another barricade a little ways up towards the farmhouse door. They crouched and hid, same as their comrades, when they got there. After another long while, presuming it was safe to continue, another group of 4 men broke off from the group furthest back, ran up and past the second barricade and hid behind the barricade closest to the front door. When they finally reached it, Lilian heard the loud sound of a bird coming from behind the first group. It was a shrill and mournful cry, perfectly executed even though Lilian knew it must have been Solveig or the other mercenary. Lilian was so shocked by the loud noise she almost shifted her weight to look and see where it came from. But this was what Solveig wanted. Lilian knew better, she knew to keep her eyes on the farmhouse. That was because the instant after the bird call sounded and all the bandits swiveled their heads to see where the sound had come from, Lilian saw a tiny flickering light appear in one of the top windows of the farmhouse. Lilian had seen the third mercenary wrapping arrowheads in cloth and dipping them in lamp oil in the evening so she wondered if this little light was one of those. As expected, the light stayed in the window for only a second before streaking out and down towards the second barricade. All the bandits were too low to be hit, even from the high vantage point. She heard the arrow thud into wood, the sound drew the attention of a couple of the bandits and one or two of them seemed to be looking about for its cause. That was when the explosion happened. A deafening bang echoed through the darkness. There was no fire but Lilian felt the barn doors shake from the blast. Her ears rang with it long after the last of the debris from the barricade crashed down to earth. Now she understood what Mr Attorcop had been doing with the manure. With the proper chemicals mixed in, the smelly gas from cow dung could be trapped and ignited by pressure or, as in this case, fire. The very thing the bandits had been cowering behind for safety, was the thing that had just attacked them. Lilian could hear shouting now and she narrowed her eyes to try and see what was happening through the rising dust cloud. Two men were on the floor, face down in the road. One was clutching his side and panting heavily. No sooner had Lilian time to take it all in, when another flickering light shot out of the top window. This time, the bandits were slight more prepared and two of them managed to stand up and run back or off to the side before a second bang cracked through the night. It was like being next to a lightning bolt, thought Lilian who had managed to cover her ears in time for this one. The second explosion had not been as big as the first but it showed the bandits several things at once. One, they now had to question every position they assumed to be safe and two they were facing more than just farmers. One of the younger men in the first group lost his composure and ran off into the field. Lilian heard the ringing clank of a bear trap as the young man fell to the floor, clutching his leg and screaming. Lilian felt a sick feeling in her stomach. Even though these men were here to hurt people, she felt sorry for them, squaring up against 3 of Alicium’s most expensive soldiers. On top of everything, they now also knew that fleeing into the fields was a bad idea. That left them with two options, fight forward or flee back.
Then the song started. Lilian heard it coming from the farmhouse, it was similar to the song the mercenaries had sang earlier that day, when they had approached the bandits from the road. It was just a man’s voice singing now though. Lilian decided to take the risk and poked her head out of the barn doors. She could see more clearly now. She angled her head to bring the farmhouse into focus. She saw the third mercenary stood brazenly in front of the front door, he held his long pike in his hands and was singing his slow song. Lilian noticed that this song was more rhythmic than the last. It had a pulse to it that the soldier pronounced by tapping his right foot in time. Lilian didn’t understand the language but she understood the intention behind the song. It was uncanny and out of place. There should not be singing during a fight. She felt a slight trickle of fear prick the hairs on the back of her neck. She couldn’t imagine what the men out there must be feeling. Lilian suddenly looked down, noticing Fritha moving oddly by her side. Fritha’s ears were flattened and her nose was up in the air. She was facing the group of men but the barn door blocked her direct sightline. Then, for the second time in their few weeks together, Lilian heard Fritha make a peculiar sound. It was like a low gong had been hit with a padded beater. It wasn’t particularly loud so Lilian wasn’t worried about her being heard over the singing. In fact, the two seemed to compliment each other rather well. Lilian recognised the sound from the time Fritha saved her in a dark alley in Hundsberg. She had reacted to something then as well. Could it be…? Lilian wasn’t able to finish her thought before she sensed movement outside. 3 men had been shouting about how their comrades were cowards and that it was just one man. Lilian could hear their voices over the singing,
“Get your lazy, craven bones up and ready. This one’s on us. The rest of you, get to the house and search it. Brick, keep a lookout.” Lilian watched the speaking man stand and stride confidently towards the still singing mercenary. He was flanked by two of this crew, all of them held swords, the one on the right even held a makeshift shield made from what looked like a flattened cooking pot. The mercenary continued to sing, unfased by the approaching men. It wasn’t until they were within reach of his pike that any movement occured. It wasn’t the mercenary who moved however, instead Lilian caught a flash of darkness appear, as if from nowhere. There was a quick swooshing sound, followed by a thunk of metal on bone and the apparition was gone again. Lilian watched the man with the shield fall to his knees and then flat on to his face. Out cold. The other two men froze in fear, one of them looked around to see where the strange dark shape had come from. Doing this meant he’d taken his eye off of the mercenary’s pike which shot through the darkness and quickly embedded itself into the man’s left shoulder. The man shouted in pain in the same instant that the mercenary shifted his whole weight into a twist, shoving the impaled bandit into his friend causing them both to stumble off balance for a second. The shadow then reappeared and Lilian was able to catch a glimpse of Mr Attorcop’s face and beard before the sickening metallic clunk resounded off the man’s head. The stumble became a trip, the shadow was gone and both men hit the ground. The mercenary sang throughout, never missing a beat. Lilian watched as the remaining bandits started to scatter, two or three of them dropped their weapons and made signs of wanting to surrender. One however, continued to shout abuse, he struck anyone who looked as though they were about to give up, hurling curses and insults at all of them. Lilian saw in the dim light that he had a scar on his lip, this was the man from earlier, the one whose reputation was riding on this whole raid. Lilian watched him shove one of the younger men and grapple with him until he pulled something over the man’s neck, it seemed to be a long piece of twine tied to a metallic instrument. Lilian watched the man put the thing to his lips, draw a deep breath and blow into the mouth piece. The object was some kind of trumpet, Lilian heard a couple of raspy tones before the man found the knack and blew a long low note. When he stopped, Lilian could hear it echoing across the fields and bouncing back off barn walls. She wondered if there must have been something magical about the horn, its echo was lasting a peculiarly long time, but then she realised that there was another, similar horn in the distance, answering the call. Lilian’s stomach dropped. Were there more of these thieves? What if the farm was overrun? So far their traps and positions seemed to have worked, but that was all against a relatively small number of attackers. Lilian looked around the barn and realised how cornered she was. Hiding had worked once but what if the newcomers set the barn on fire? Lilian’s nerves suddenly got the better of her and she decided to try and escape the barn. If she kept low and hid behind Fritha then… Her train of thought was interrupted by the rumbling sound of approaching horses. Lilian didn’t want to rush out now in case she ran headlong into a cavalry. She went back to peeking through the barn doors. Not much had changed, the mercenary at the farm was still singing, the remaining bandits were still crouched behind the unexploded barricade. Lilian looked down the road and saw movement in the moonlight. Solveig and the other soldier were changing positions, probably in reaction to the sounds of horns and hooves. Instead of hiding on the roadside, they were switching so that they would not be seen by anyone approaching from the road. It was a risk as the group already at the farm could now potentially spot them, but they seemed to be distracted by the man at the house who, for all they knew, was the only mercenary the farmer could afford.
After about a minute the hooves got louder and Lilian could see a group of 8 or 9 men on horseback, cantering down the road. They slowed when they got to the farm and saw no immediate fighting. At the head of the group was a man dressed in a long black coat. He seemed older than the rest of them, he also seemed angry. Probably upset that he had to have been called in to back up a bunch of incompetents. His eyes darted about, expecting to spot some kind of trouble or an ambush. They finally fell on the group of bandits several yards in front and on the single singing soldier by the farm door.
“What the blazes are you calling us in for? You lot having trouble or summink? It’s just the one…”
The man never finished telling off his crew. At that moment he was interrupted by one of Solveig’s axes knocking him clean off his horse. It happened so fast, he didn’t even make a sound until he hit the ground with a loud thud and an ‘oof’ as all the air was pushed out of his chest. And then it was pandemonium. His horse whinnied and leapt up in fear, this clearly was no battle hardened colt, as at the first sign of a fracas it jumped and kicked, catching one of the horses behind it with its back leg. The chaos was not helped by the fact that the mercenary on the opposite side of the road to Solveig was sweeping his pike amongst the horses legs, hitting as many as he could and causing them to buck and panic. The men who had been hiding up the road suddenly leapt to their feet and ran to join the struggle. The painful sound of screaming horses was almost too much for Lilian to bear. The terrible symphony was added to by two more mercenary voices joining in with the singing. Lilian took advantage of the chaos to duck out of the barn. She crouched to avoid any stray projectiles and stuck close to the barn wall holding her breath as she went. Fritha padded by her side, which gave her some comfort but fear still drove her forward. She looked up briefly to see the mercenary who had been at the farm, running down the path to join his friends down the road. Lilian was almost at the farmhouse, assuming she’d escaped the worst of it, when she looked up and came face to face with a young man. He looked right at her and held up a trembling hand, a small knife protruded from the fist, its point shaking. The man took a step forward with a heavy limp. Lilian looked down at his legs and saw that the left one was cut and bloodied. This must be the young man who’d stepped in the bear trap. He looked about as keen to be there as Lilian felt. They stared each other down, each one not knowing what next move to take. Lilian reached slowly for her knife but the man stepped forward before she could reach it.
“Stop right there,” He said in a tone of false confidence. Lilian didn’t need to listen to his heart to know it must have been beating at an alarming rate. She could see sweat reflecting on his brow. Knowing that he was scared didn’t comfort her however, scared men act irrationally and Lilian had to be sure to stay on her guard. She knew how to defend against an armed attacker but training and coming up against the real thing were very different. Luckily, the action was taken for her as Fritha stepped out from behind her and growled a low jangling rumble. The man’s eyes widened to the size of saucers and he stepped back absent mindedly, putting his full weight onto his bad foot. His face winced in pain and just as his eyes closed briefly, Lilian heard the now familiar thunk of metal on bone. The man’s eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the floor with a thud. Mr Attorcop was revealed standing behind him, clutching a silver rod in his right hand. It reminded Lilian of the silver sword he sometimes conjured from a bottle of essence, it had the same shimmering quality to the silver, only it this was thicker and heavier.
“Are you alright?” Lilian nodded, still a little shook up from the night’s events. Mr Attorcop glanced behind her, sounds of shouts and horses still came from down the road.
“I didn’t think there would be more of them.” Said Lilian. Mr Attorcop looked over her shoulder at the scrap happening on the road.
“They must have mentioned the mercenaries and organised back up just in case.” Mr Attorcop spoke with wide eyes. He maintained his composure, but it was clear to Lilian that he was on high alert. He motioned for her to follow him and the two of them crept round to the back of the farm house. From here, they could still hear the occasional singing voice, but the main noise of the fight was muffled. As they turned the corner Lilian saw Mr Hayes and Brackus. The sellsword had his blade out in front of him and nearly jumped out of his skin when Mr Attorcop turned the corner. He relaxed when he saw it was just the two travellers from earlier.
“We should get going, there might be more on the way.” He spoke in a loud whisper, his face dark in the shadow of the farmhouse. Lilian looked at Mr Attorcop and tugged on his cloak,
“I can check.” She raised her eyebrows imploringly. It took him a second to decide but Mr Attorcop finally looked at her and whispered,
“Be quick. Check the whole area, special attention to any waterways that may be masking sound.” Lilian did not have to be told twice and she slipped into her state of hyper focus by the time Mr Attorcop had finished talking. The first sound she had to get over was the heightened sound of Brackus’ voice, he was asking Mr Attorcop about what she was doing. She ignored the voices in her immediate area and stretched her attention out all around her, like was a patient octopus, feeling about for movement. She heard the patter of tiny feet next to a racing heart, a mouse. She heard the slightest of splashes as a sparrow washed itself in a puddle. She avoided the fight as those hearts and hits would be too loud and too close together for her to get anything useful. She did hear the three mercenaries singing though, she kept that in focus as she enjoyed the sound of music while she worked. It wasn’t until she took Mr Attorcop’s advice and paid close attention to a stream about half a mile away that she noticed something strange. The sound of the water was indeed masking something. Thuds. Soft and wet. Footsteps. How many? More than a small group. Coming this way. Hearts slow and soft. Lilian opened her eyes.
“There are more, they’re coming this way from the west.”
“How many?” Asked Mr Attorcop.
“Not sure, but they’re not nervous.”
“How long until they get here?” Lilian had to guess.
“Maybe 2 minutes.” This information sprang Mr Attorcop into action.
“Right, I’m going to warn the mercenaries, you lot, go to the hut where the others are, get the coaches ready. I think we might have to abandon the farm.” Mr Hayes looked confused, but nodded his head in agreement.
“If this had been all of them,” Brackus whispered, “That might have been okay. But you’re right, another wave would be too much. Come, I take you both.” He motioned for Lilian and Mr Hayes to follow him. Lilian made sure Fritha was close by and then started to walk. She caught herself before getting to far and turned back,
“Cromwell.” She whispered through the gloom. In the dim starlight she saw Mr Attorcop turn around, catch her eye, nod in answer to an unspoken request, and then disappear.
The store house was not far and luckily it was North east from the farm so they didn’t run into any trouble on the way. They kept low and quiet. When they reached the run down building, Brackus gave a distinctive whistle. Lilian saw Anna’s face appear at a window. Her eyes looked scared, but they relaxed when she saw her father was with them. The building was larger than Lilian had expected it to be. Once inside, Mr Hayes took charge and explained what had happened before ordering everyone to pack up and ready the horses for a swift exit. Lilian didn’t have anything in particular to pack so she stayed by the window and kept a lookout. At one point she heard a loud bang and saw a flash of light come from the other side of the farm house. She was nervous but positive that she would not leave until she saw Mr Attorcop safely on board one of these wagons. Mrs Hayes put her hand on Lilian’s shoulder after a minute of her watching.
“He’ll be alright.” Her tone was confident and Lilian was momentarily reassured. She knew Cromwell Attorcop to be a fierce fighter when he had to be. But still the seconds past, unrelenting. She looked back at the wagons and saw that most people were ready and waiting to leave. The doors of the store house swung open like a barn and the strapped horses seemed impatient and confused as to why they were not moving. Looking at Mr Hayes Lilian could tell he was purposefully not meeting her eye. He wanted to leave and Lilian couldn’t blame him. She was about to suggest that they go, that they leave her and Mr Attorcop when she took a quick glance back through the window and saw dark figures making their way across the grass.
“There are people.” She whispered to the travellers.
“Friend or foe?” Said Mr Hayes in a shaky whisper. Lilian narrowed her eyes, trying to see any signs of familiarity in the darkness.
“Friends.” She said, she had seen a glint of moonlight bouncing off what was unmistakably a bald head. She jumped back from the glass and clambered onto Mr Hayes’ wagon. She heard him click his tongue and the horses sprang into motion. It left the store house under cover of darkness, followed by the other carts and horses that had made up the caravan. There was an overgrown path in front of them that lead ahead and round towards the main road, passing under a small hill which was cut away to accommodate the road, again hiding it from view of the farm making this storehouse an even better hideaway than Lilian had thought it at first. She touched Fritha’s fur and made sure she was lying down amongst the crates and cargo stashed onto the back of the open wagon. Lilian stood up, waving her hands in the hope that Mr Attorcop would see her. The figures were closer now and the two frontrunners stopped when they saw the wagons leaving the storehouse. They quickly started heading towards the small hill and Lilian understood.
“Keep going.” She leant back and whispered loudly to Mr Hayes, “They’re going to jump on at the hill.” Lilian was smiling when she turned back to track their progress. There were two dark figures one of them was leaning on the other. Mr Attorcop seemed to be assisting an injured man, probably one of the mercenaries. Lilian looked past them, into the darkness and discerned a few more figures rushing through the grass. Each of them left an indent in the long grass as they walked. Mr Attorcop was pointing out the small hill to his companion and then dropped back to the other group. The injured man started to hobble towards the intersection point where he would meet the caravan and escape. Suddenly, Lilian’s heart sank. From on top of the wagon, she had a good view of the scene. She could see the smaller group, presumably made up of the farmers and the other two mercenaries. Mr Attorcop was getting close to them but they hadn’t seen what was approaching from behind. Lilian could see the trenches in the tall grass that her friends had carved out in their passage. She then watched in horror as the grass behind and around her friends began to have similar vein-like trenches carved through it. Crouching assailants were approaching the group and only Lilian could see them, or rather, she saw the signs of their presence. The veins were approaching from all sides, Lilian counted at least 6 before breaking all pretence of stealth and yelling at the top of her lungs.
“RUN!” The group froze for a fraction of a second before quickening their pace. She heard Mr Attorcop barking orders and Mr Hayes even cracked his crop, sparking a whinny from the horses and a lurch that almost made Lilian lose balance. The wagon managed to pick up the first mercenary without a problem. Brackus leant out of the side to grip his arms and hoist him into the seat beside him. Lilian saw that it was one of the mercenary men, he had lost his pike and his leg was hurt. As the caravan sped up, Lilian realised that the rest of the group would have to jump onto the wagons from the hill. Her heart raced and Fritha growled and barked her strange jangling chords seemingly willing the group to go faster, or perhaps just reacting to the sudden chaos. Lilian saw one of the veins catch up with a figure and someone was pulled down into the tall grass. Lilian heard a small shout, and then saw nothing. Whoever this group were, they were a lot more competent than their colleagues who had stormed the farmhouse. Lilian kept her eyes fixed on Mr Attorcop. They were in moonlight now and she could see him clearly. He was helping Solveig who was clutching her left arm. Everyone’s pace quickened and as the wagon approached the small hill, Mr Garrow and his wife were making ready to jump onto a passing cart. One, two then all the Garrows jumped into the wagons passing below them. Lilian watched as everyone landed safely. Her wagon had passed but there was still a chance that Mr Attorcop could jump into the last one. She watched, helplessly as he pushed Solveig unceremoniously into the final wagon. He seemed like he was about to jump, he even had his knees bent in preparation. But the jump never came. Instead, he simply looked up and caught Lilian’s eyes. Confused, Lilian wanted to shout and tell him to jump, but she saw then that something was stopping him. There was an arm wrapped around his front, long and pallid Lilian saw fingers that were three times the length they should be. It gripped Mr Attorcop’s night sky cloak before a second arm reached out and around, tightening its hold on Mr Attorcop’s waist. Lilian looked into his eyes and she noticed his confident, stoic expression. He nodded at her as he disappeared into the distance. Lilian’s eyes filled with tears as she saw a face emerge from behind his shoulder. That terrible and haunting face that would plague her dreams for many nights to come. It was a sad and sallow face, with dull eyes set back in a deformed skull. Its greasy, muck black hair fell over its face and pointed down to a terrifying, slit in its skin where, on any other face there would have been a mouth. It was a face as seen in the worst nightmares of a child. It was the face of a demon. One that had something owed to it, and had now at the worst possible moment, come to collect its due.